U.S. Soldiers Seek Refugee Status In Canada To Avoid Serving In Iraq

You remember the Vietnam War -er - Conflict, don’t you? O.K. Some of us are a little too young to really remember it. I have a vague recollection of the end of it and I studied it in school and, of course, I saw like every episode of China Beach and had my hair cut like Dana Delany for a whole year of college.

Anyway, the whole thing was a mess. Everyone pretty much accepts that now. Heck, I think the 2004 elections pretty much prove that we still are fighting our demons from Vietnam. We can’t seem to agree whether it was more honorable to serve, to dodge, to get a deferment, or to disappear. It’s clear that no one that served came out unscathed and we’re still beating them up. But we beat up the ones who didn’t go either.
During that time period, between 50,000 and 60,000 Americans crossed the border into Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam. Some of them were avoiding the draft, some of them were already in service.

The War in Iraq apparently is no different. Hundreds of deserters from the U.S. armed forces have crossed the border and “are now seeking political refugee status there, arguing that violations of the rules of war in Iraq by the US entitle them to asylum.”

Lee Zaslofsky, 61, the coordinator of the War Resisters’ Support Campaign in Toronto, said that he was impressed by the young men who were seeking asylum. “Some have been to Iraq and others have heard what goes on there,” he said. “Mainly, what they discuss is being asked to do things they consider repugnant. Most are quite patriotic … Many say they feel tricked by the military.”

Read the whole story.

Hat tip to Susie at Suburban Guerrilla.

Tags: American soldiers, protest, Iraq, Canada, Vietnam War

Recommended Reading

There’s so much going on in the news and on the web that I really wanted to comment on it all today but it’s got my brain buzzing. Still I didn’t want some of these things to slip away without sharing because they really are worth a good read.

• Iraq through the Prism of Vietnam - a nice comparison of the two wars by Retired Gen. William Odom. “He lists striking similarities and asserts that only after it pulls out of Iraq can the U.S. hope for international support to deal with anti-Western forces.”
• To the Inequality of Men and Women - Matsu wrote an excellent history of the modern day fight for equality of the sexes and how maybe it wasn’t exactly everything we thought it was going to be and what it might take to get it right.
• It’s about damn time! - Kevin brings up the question that if a woman has the right to choose whether to abort, give a child up for adoption or raise a child, shouldn’t the father have the right to choose whether or not he wants to be financially responsible for the child? Currently, our legal system makes that choice for men.
• What’s Good for the Wiretapped Goose Is Apparently Not Good For the Wiretapped Gander — the writers at Wonkette feel that if Bush can listen into their calls, they should be allowed to drop in on enator Rockefeller’s conference calls.
• The nattering nabobs of…patriotism? — this is a very creative editorial by Paul Lewis, a what if, if you will. It’s an amusing mismatch of 1776 and 2006.

Tags: politics, Iraq, Vietnam War, Women's Rights, warrantless wiretapping, patriotism, Men's Rights